From a broader perspective this cross-disciplinary and cross cultural thesis examines the relationships between identity, ideology and propaganda and their influence over the production of private and public memories. This examination is carried out through a case study investigating various representations of the Czech RAF airmen from selected British and Czech WW2 newspapers approached as an archive of memory, and from individual recollections of the Czech veterans – the living archive of memory. These representations in the context of this research become interacting versions of public and private memory which in a unique way and yet equally contribute towards the historical construction of the Second World War. This thesis proposes that the various versions of memory, in Rothberg’s (2009) words ‘multidirectional memory’, are a consequence of versioning, a constant creation and re-creation of different versions of memory due to numerous influences on the producers of such memory. However, this research also considers a presence of Second World War discourse, which underpinned public and private memory and transcended collective memories of the Britishness and Czechness forming a transnational or cross cultural (Radstone, 2010) WW2 memory. In other words, this project draws upon current theories about non competitive multiple, transnational and mediated memory (Dijck, 2007) and extends upon these by considering their existence within a potentially unifying WW2 discourse within which they connect and disconnect. By doing so, this thesis challenges master narratives of history. These memories are also seen as a base for multi-layered identity of the ones who remembered and had the right to remember. Furthermore this study explores the potential reasons behind the creation of the discovered qualitative treasure of this project The Czechoslovak, a small community newspaper produced by the Czech minority living in Britain during the WW2. The theoretical underpinning as well as the methodology of the project attempt to interrogate media studies, oral history and memory studies in order to create a most pertinent space in which the written and oral memory is explored effectively. This merger of theories and methodologies allowed me to investigate the various memories within the context of the WW2 and thus construct them from the past perspective when they were being created. A discourse analysis of selected British and Czech WW2 newspapers (The Times, Daily Mirror, News of the World and The Czechoslovak) has been employed distinguishing between traditional and tabloidised newspaper representations and investigating to what extend the Czechs were portrayed as the ‘other’ or the heroes in the British society. The outcome of this analysis was a discovery that the Czech RAF airmen had not been given much prominence in the British newspapers and that their representations varied according to the different type of newspaper and the different period of the war in which they were produced. Moreover, ideology, propaganda and the notion of Czech and British identity present in the newspapers played an important role in the creation of public memory versions of the Czech RAF airmen’s images. Besides newspapers, this study took the opportunity to reveal very fragile and valuable private recollections of the Czech WW2 RAF veterans (six former members of the Czech RAF settled in Britain after the WW2 and 1 widow were interviewed in the summer 2008); the men who played an important role in the success of the Allies in WW2. By doing this, the former Czech airmen were given a voice and the chance to contribute towards existing knowledge about the Czechs in the RAF and the Second World War. The various versions of the past produced by their private memory have been investigated in the view of various factors influencing these versions: notably their identity, war ideology, propaganda, and forgetting and in relation to WW2 media. Considering the occurrence of versioning, when critically reflecting upon all different memories, I position myself as a researcher into the shoes of yet another producer of another version of the past. Thus, this study creates a space where various, sometimes contrasting memories do not fight for recognition, but where official collective memory and individual memory influence each other and also enrich each other whilst they co-construct a historical representation of the past.

This research is an attempt to understand the relations between the Ottoman imperial government and the local administrators of Egypt, namely the mamluk beys. Gaining more financial and political power, they commenced to challenge the authority of the Ottoman governor of Egypt in the mid-eighteenth century alongside the incessant struggles between each other. Using a variety of Ottoman archival documents and contemporary narrative sources, I examine the factors behind the mamluk beys’ authority expansion that resulted in uprising of Ali Bey al-Kabir (Bulutkapan). Throughout the dissertation I pursue two arguments, which address key issues in Ottoman political historiography. The first argument concerns with the underlying causes of the mamluk beys’ extended authority. I show that short-tenured governors encountered with financially and politically powerful local components, which may be considered as a result of the decentralized administration system of the Ottoman Empire. Mamluk beys’ ambition to accumulate more financial income led them to contact European consuls directly in order to open Suez trade for them. The second argument concerns the centre-periphery relations of the Ottoman Empire. I show that, although they gained power and challenged the pasha, the mamluk beys did not establish an autonomous administration during the eighteenth century. The Ottoman Empire managed the short-term uprising of Ali Bey quickly by taking due precautions.

This thesis contributes to the study of religions, particularly Islam, in the successor states of former Yugoslavia from 1989 to 2009. The theoretical contributions of this work lie in the comparison of the communist and post-communist periods, where clear similarities and differences have been drawn for better understanding of the continuity between them. Current works on the state of Islam and Muslim communities in the Balkans have mainly focused on recent developments without insight into the conditions and effects of religious life under communism. This work is concerned with the continuity of religious practice from the communist period, religious changes and the revival of Islam at the institutional, public, intellectual and individual level. The thesis begins with a historical background of the region and the arrival of Islam. It moves then to examine constitutional and legislative changes regarding religion and their impact on Islam. After analysing the most visible signs of an Islamic revival at the institutional level, the thesis examines the place of Islam in the public arena, analysing the media, public gatherings, Muslim organizations and mosque construction. It then focuses on intellectual changes and similarities within the communist period. The concluding chapter explains the scope and reasons for the Islamic revival.

The thesis investigates the impact of western art music ('classical') upon the construction of Greek-European identity in the 19th century. Through the examination of institutions such as the Theatre of Athens that hosted the Italian opera for the better part of the 19th century, the Conservatory of Athens (1873), the Conservatory of Thessaloniki (1914), various 19th century literary societies, press content, scores, publications on music, and state regulations on education, the thesis utilizes both musical, as well as extra-musical material to construct a cultural and social history of Greece's understanding of the 'European' in relation to local Greek society through music between 1840 and 1914. At the same time, it highlights the importance of transnational institutional and interpersonal musical networks between Greece and Europe (mainly England, France, and Germany), to demonstrate how political and aesthetic preferences influenced long-term policy, cultural practice, and musical tradition. While examining the 19th century diplomatic, political, and cultural practices of the expanding 19th century Greek Kingdom, the thesis traces the development of western musical taste and practice in Balkan Greece in relation to the local modernizing society. It highlights the importance of local and European artistic agents and networks, identifies the tension between the projection of European identity and raw acoustic divergence, argues for about the contribution of music to the construction of Greek-European identity, and examines the cultural and political negotiations about the conflicting relationship between Byzantine-Hellenic-European-Modern Greek, as expressed through music and debates on music. The last part of the thesis assembles the 19th century material to explain the relationship between nationalism and musical practice at the turn of the 20th century, and as such the long-term influence of western art music upon the construction of Greek-European national identity.

This research studies mass-elite dimensions of support for the EU in Bulgaria. The scope is to fill a missing gap in the existing literatures on public opinion and party positions on European integration providing an in-depth study on a specific case of Central and Eastern Europe before accession. In order to present the most comprehensive study, the research employs quantitative and qualitative research methodologies in the form of cross tabulations of public opinion surveys, contents and discourse analysis of election programmes, parliamentary debates and elite interviews. The main research question is what the level of support was for the EU at mass and elite levels in Bulgaria during the accession process, and what the relationship between them was. The results are likely to be valid well beyond the specific interest of the research in all current member states and candidate countries. The main conclusions drawn from this project are that in Bulgaria the utilitarian and proxy models of support explain well the high degree of public support for EU membership before accession and in that respect Bulgaria conforms to the analysis of past academic contributions on public opinion in Central and Eastern Europe. At elite level European integration was perceived positively and debated in broad terms until the Copenhagen criteria for accession were formulated. In the latter part of the transition EU membership was established as a valence issue in Bulgarian party politics but the parties differed in their visions of the EU according to ideology, their coalition potential and positions in the party system. Moreover, the level of support for the EU in Bulgaria was influenced by internal (domestic) and external (EU related) factors associated with European integration. Chapters 2 and 3 of the thesis provide a contextual framework for the empirical chapters by describing the environment in which support for the EU in Bulgaria was formed and developed. Chapters 4, 5 and 6 analyse the public and elite debates on European integration. The concluding Chapter 7 builds upon the thesis' findings by suggesting new avenues for research.

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Inaug.-diss.--Leipzig. / Lebenslauf. "Literaturverzeichnis": 2d-3d prelim. leaf.

Inaug.-diss.--Greifswald. / Lebenslauf. "Literaturyerzeichnis": p. ix-xii.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 312-323).